Report: Tom Brady’s ‘Arrogance’ Fueled Giants In Super Bowl XLII

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That was the feeling four years ago among a handful of Giants defenders when Tom Brady pooh-poohed Plaxico Burress’ Super Bowl XLII prediction.

Justin Tuck told the New York Post that when Brady disrespected Burress’ 23-17 pick in favor of the Giants, the whole room “turned red.”

“I remember the arrogance of the whole way he scoffed,” defensive end Osi Umenyiora told the paper. “I remember that making us particularly angry.”

Osi added: “We just knew then that we were gonna take his head off. We just knew that right then. I mean, come on, man. There’s levels of arrogance, you understand what I mean? In the interview, like psssshhh, ‘We’re only gonna score 17 points?’ ”

This season, the Patriots have won 10 in a row (two in the playoffs on top of eight in the regular season). With another win on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis, Brady and company would give New England their fourth Lombardi Trophy.

“I still can’t watch highlights of that (Super Bowl XLII) game, I think that’s just the way it is,” Brady told Boston’s WEEI radio on Monday. “You get to the end, and we had a great opportunity there and really squandered it because we didn’t play our very best.”

The key might be to rattle the Patriots quarterback.

According to the New York Daily News, one assistant coach in the NFL found a glaring weakness when dissecting game tape from last year’s Jets playoff win over New England.

“There’s not a doubt in my mind that they rattled him. He started seeing things that weren’t even there,” the unnamed coach told the paper. “He’s human. He literally ducked down one time and there was no one there. Nobody was close to him. He thought he saw something and it wasn’t there. He literally ducked. We were literally like, ‘Did you see that? Is that really Tom Brady?’ ”

Will Brady get his revenge next Sunday, or will the Giants make it 2 for 2 in the Super Bowl against the quarterback? Sound off below…